V-019 | DNA damage response players and sleep behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology
Author: Canela Pedreira González | Email: canelaghia@gmail.com

Canela Pedreira-González^1°, Emiliano Kalesnik-Vissio^1°,Agustina Bruno-Vignolo^1°, Ivana Ducrey^1°, Florencia Fernandez-Chiappe^1°, Pedro Ballestero^1°, Marina Propato-Lots^1°, Luis de Lecea^2°, Nara I. Muraro^1°

^1° Biomedicine Research Institute of Buenos Aires-CONICET-Partner Institute of the Max Planck Society. Godoy Cruz 2390, C1425FQD, Buenos Aires, Argentina
^2° Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford Medicine. 291 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305. United States of America

What are the evolutionary advantages of sleep? It has been established that sleep is a conserved process across all animal species; however, its biological function remains unknown. There are multiple hypotheses regarding the role of sleep in animals. For example, it has been proposed that sleep underlies memory formation, synaptic pruning, and the elimination of toxic metabolites that accumulate extracellularly during wakefulness. Additionally, a new hypothesis has recently been proposed, suggesting that repairing DNA damage accumulated during wakefulness is a fundamental function of sleep in zebrafish. Is this process conserved in other animals? Are DNA repair proteins pivotal sensors for sleep behavior regulation? Our hypothesis is that DNA repair proteins are a molecular component of the sleep homeostat in fruit flies. To test this, we will use canonical methods for inducing DNA damage and further analyze sleep behavior. Additionally, it will be determined whether PARP1, which has been proposed as a key sensor of DNA double-strand breaks for sleep induction in fish, also performs this function in insects. Future studies will determine whether other DNA repair-related proteins such as Rad51, Ku70, and Ku80 are involved in Drosophila sleep behavior.